Month: October 2016

Man Shitty, Arsenal and Liverpool each have 23 points. Shitty is the top dog with plus fifteen. Second is my Gunners a plus 13 and third place belongs to the Reds a plus eleven. Chelsea is fourth with 22 points. Spurs are fifth with 20 points. Everton is sixth at 18 points. Watford is seventh with 15 and Man U is eighth with 15 points.

Match report on the Everton win: “Romelu Lukaku scored for a seventh consecutive Premier League match against West Ham United to help Everton return to winning ways at Goodison Park.

My guys from Arsenal kicked ass and took names in a good old fashioned 4-1 butt whipping over Sunderland at the Black Cats house Stadium of Light. The twin daily double by Alexis Sanchez 19th and 78th minutes and Olivier Giroud 71st and 76th minute spelled doom for the Black Cats.

The win give the guys 23 points with a plus thirteen.

This is a huge win for us.

Sunderland tied it up one all when Jermain Defoe nailed the PK in the 68th minute. Then all hell broke loose when my Gunners scored three goals in a seven minute span to put this puppy to bed for good.

The Black Cats have not won a single match this season.

Man Shitty took apart West Brom 4-0 o move to the head of the class on goal difference.

This is Man Shitty’s first win since September 24th and their first win in their last seven matches and this includes all competition.

Man U and Burnley tied nil-nil. The tie puts another nail in the leaking ship of the Red Devils.

The tie drops Man U to eighth place with 15 points.

Watford moves ahead of the Red Devils into seventh place with 15 points tambem. Both Man U and Watford each are a plus one however the Hornets have scored 14 goals compared with the Red Devils 13.

Tottenham and Leicester City tied one all.

Watford defeated Hull City 1-0.

Liverpool picked up a had fought 4-2 win over Crystal Palace The Reds are level on points with Man Shitty and Arsenal at 23 points each however Liverpool is only a plus nine good enough for third place behind first place Shitty a plus fifteen and second place Gunners at plus eleven.

Jose Mourinho put out his best squad while Man Shitty manager Pep Guardiola started his second string. Man U stopped the bleeding with a 1-0 win to advance to the quarterfinals of EFL Cup.

The Guardian’s Paul Wilson: “Manchester United’s week took a much needed turn for the better as a Juan Mata goal propelled them into the last eight of the EFL Cup at the expense of their neighbours. Whether José Mourinho wants an extended run in this competition is another matter – United have drawn West Ham at home in the next round – but at least he and his team have shifted some of the pressure on to his rival across town.

Doubtless Pep Guardiola is not greatly enamoured of the lesser of the domestic trophies either, though he could have done with a victory here. This was City’s sixth game in a row without a win, uncharted territory for their manager. The side he selected did not suggest an intention to win at all costs and, if he did not have an inkling before, the manager must now be fully aware that without David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne City tend to be short of snap and polish.

“It was nice to score but the most important thing was to put the last defeat behind us,” Mata said. “We had a bad day in London [at Chelsea] and we knew we had to be strong and give 100% in this game.”

Both sides made changes from their weekend lineups, though City made the most. Sergio Agüero was named on the bench, John Stones left out and young prospects Aleix García and Pablo Maffeo given rare starts, the latter making his first-team debut. Considering Marcos Rojo came in for the injured Eric Bailly the United team was closer to full strength, with Chris Smalling left out and Michael Carrick preferred to Marouane Fellaini.

Mourinho apologised in the match programme for the performance at Chelsea and though he has previously said the EFL Cup has to be the lowest of his priorities, with this derby coming so quickly after the Stamford Bridge debacle he was aware of the need to field a side capable of obtaining a more acceptable result.

United went behind in the first minute at Chelsea and survived a second-minute scare here. Jesús Navas crossed from the right and found Kelechi Iheanacho in front of goal, but the striker could not adjust his body position in time and his close-range header flew over.

The home side’s three-man midfield allowed Paul Pogba a freer role than has generally been the case this season and the France player’s mobility showed up well in the opening stages, though City moved the ball around better with their short-passing game and García was involved in several early attacks.

For all that it was a fairly low wattage, error-ridden derby in the first half, short on quality and anything resembling goalmouth incident. Vincent Kompany seemed to sum up the paucity of proceedings when he hoofed the ball into touch like a rugby player when under no pressure in his own half, an odd sight quickly followed by the normally reliable Mata doing almost exactly the same thing.

For most of the evening the City support, though outnumbered, had been making much more noise than their hosts, though a couple of interventions by Zlatan Ibrahimovic just before the interval finally brought the home crowd into voice. Poised to attempt the game’s first effort on target the Swede was foiled in the act of shooting by a timely block from Nicolás Otamendi, then when Ibrahimovic released Marcus Rashford down the left the teenager was only stopped by an even better tackle from Maffeo.

Promising as those moments were for the home side, United could still have turned round behind. Five minutes from the break Iheanacho had a clear sight of goal on the left but held on to the ball too long in an attempt to improve his shooting angle and was dispossessed by Rojo coming across to cover from the opposite flank.

Not entirely unexpectedly in front of the watching Belgium manager Kompany failed to appear for the second half, which began with Iheanacho wasting a good position by passing to an offside Nolito instead of spotting a better timed run from Leroy Sané. Actual excitement finally arrived a couple of minutes later, with Ibrahimovic effortlessly giving Otamendi the slip to set up Pogba, who looked certain to score only for the faintest brush of Willy Caballero’s gloves to touch his shot on to a post.

United were not to be denied, however, and took the lead on their next attack when the outstanding Ibrahimovic rolled a low cross into the City area towards Ander Herrera. Mike Dean could easily have awarded a penalty as the midfielder was unceremoniously bundled off the ball by Fernando and might have done so but for the ball running free for Mata to find Caballero’s bottom corner.

United had upped their tempo noticeably since the interval and deserved to go in front, the City fans contented themselves with a plea for Agüero to be sent on. They got Raheem Sterling instead. Making the most of City’s disruption at the back United could have gone further in front when Rashford crossed from the left for Ibrahimovic; uncharacteristically the striker failed to make any sort of contact.

Guardiola did send Agüero on after that, to little effect. There was nothing coming through from midfield and City failed to record an attempt on target all evening. United continued to press forward with more conviction and could have sealed it before the end but Rashford, having an off-night by his standards, put in a poor cross from another Ibrahimovic invitation with Pogba unmarked in the middle.

“We had to stay calm in the second half and we did,” said Herrera afterwards. “It was a good performance and the fans can be proud again.”

The guys are back at it later today. Man Shitty is at the head of the class on goal difference. My Gunners, Man Shitty, and Liverpool each have 20 points. First place Shitty has a plus eleven. Arsenal is a plus ten good for second place while the Reds are a plus nine third place.

Chelsea and Spurs each have 19 points. The Blues are fourth with a plus ten. Fifth place belongs to Tottenham a plus nine.

The Telegraph exposed how Jose Mourinho and Man U were torn apart by Chelsea. JJ Bull wrote: “When you come with a strategy you can’t concede after 30 seconds,” said Jose Mourinho, suggesting he intended to come away from Stamford Bridge having frustrated everyone with a tough fought, low scoring draw. Maybe even a win. We should be so lucky!

Until Pedro spoiled the plan within 27 seconds of kick-off, everyone expected this to be one of those games you wish you could instantly forget. Man Utd were competing against an in-form title rival at a ground Mourinho once made a fortress against a team he should know inside out – parking the bus seemed inevitable. Instead, United were absolutely destroyed, looked devoid of energy and were easily torn apart.

How did it happen?

Antonio Conte has found a perfect balance in his team with a 3-4-3, a system that gets the best out of his best players. Eden Hazard has freedom upfront and isn’t made to focus on defending, Diego Costa has allies in attack to deflect attention away from only him, and the three centre-backs work really well as a unit – particularly when David Luiz or Gary Cahill venture forward into midfield.

Mourinho, by contrast, has done nothing to adopt his system to suit the Man Utd players at his disposal and instead seems determined not to accept that his marriage to a 4-2-3-1 is going through something of a rocky patch.

United should have been totally up for this, ready for a battle and switched on from the first whistle. Nobody in a red shirt even touched the ball before Pedro made it 1-0. Paul Pogba, the £89million man, looked lost throughout. Never quite sure whether to be a defensive midfielder, an attacking midfielder or whatever it is Paul Pogba is best at.

Below he is in the holding midfield role while Marouane Fellaini, who is supposed to be the holding midfielder, is off on the right wing half heartedly trying to tackle Nemanja Matic.

Daley Blind is worried about how fast Pedro is and doesn’t step up level with the defence, who are supposed to stand in a straight line to deal with the exact kind of pass Matic makes.

Pedro is onside, clearly, and Chris Smalling cannot believe what has happened.

He gestures with his arms, running at full speed towards the scene, to imply that Blind might not be doing the best defending of his career at this exact moment.

De Gea comes out, Pedro goes round him, Mourinho’s plan to sit, frustrate and go from there has been blown into smithereens.

Getting the basics right

United weren’t so much rattled by this early goal as not bothered and continued making stupid defensive errors throughout. Rather than players being lazy, it seems more that they just don’t read danger signs as they are presented.

In the 13th minute, Chelsea gave them a scare from a corner. Three players sat at the edge of the box, United marked zonally. In theory, if these three players run into the box to attack the ball, there would be a defender in the right space to head it away.

Nobody is looking after Eden Hazard here. Not one player thinks it might be an idea to specifically look after one of the best attackers on the pitch, whether by Mourinho instruction, fear or naivety.

United’s players, except Smalling, don’t react with anger. They stand still, lean back and seem to collectively sigh as they watch Chelsea run off celebrating. Mourinho looks at them with resignation and a look that suggests he’d rather not be their friend – there is a lack of intensity and fight about United that has been present for far too long and Mourinho hasn’t managed to have any effect on it at all so far.

A lack of intensity

Past Mourinho teams have been disciplined, a little dirty and battled until the result was secured. United simply don’t seem to have that dynamism, bite or energy they need to take games to opposition.

United have covered 945.8km as a team so far – the lowest in the entire Premier League. Liverpool, who have run the most, have covered 1045.1km.

Of all the teams above United in the actual league table, only Everton have made fewer sprints. Even Swansea sprint more and they’re not even very good.

If you consider United’s starting XI in this game, only Valencia, Rashford and Lingard are really what you’d consider quick. Mourinho’s favoured tactic is to have his team win the ball back and quickly get it forward to take advantage of a team being disorganised in transition yet we aren’t seeing this at all. Other teams are much better at winning the ball back, work much harder to do so and have quicker players to take advantage of this.

With nobody in midfield really breaking up play besides Herrera, Rashford played out of position and Ibrahimovic expected to lead the line while entirely isolated, United can’t counter-attack. When they go forward, one mistake leaves them heavily outnumbered on the counter and so to avoid either of these situations, they play rigid defensive football to try and grind out wins from opposition mistakes.

A bit like Sunderland.

Expecting attacking players to defend

The third goal was an example of terrible defending by players who aren’t defenders. Valencia, a right winger made to play right-back, is caught way too far away from his nearest centre-back as Chelsea build up the play outside the box. His first priority as a full-back must be to close that space and keep the back line tight, not look for the chance to counter-attack as his starting position suggests he is doing.

It looks increasingly more like Mourinho doesn’t know how to get the best out of Pogba and that it might cost rather a lot more in player recruitment to fix that problem.

He’s a great player in a great team but looks distinctly average in this average team. Pogba has been on the periphery of some decent United play but has served only to make them weaker in a key area of the pitch while his attacking skills are under utilised due to the system and quality of teammates.

Lack of balance

This is Mourinho’s biggest challenge. The current United XI has no balance – on paper the players fit his defensive 4-2-3-1 but in practice they don’t suit it.

Rashford is a goal poaching striker made to be ineffective on the wing, Mata is a number 10 played everywhere but number 10, Herrera is a tidy midfielder but not one to dominate a game, nobody knows what a Fellaini is but should know he is not a Champions League standard midfield destroyer, Valencia is a winger, Lingard is the most medium footballer ever and Pogba can’t play at his best when there are so many weaker players alongside him.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic hasn’t scored in five Premier League games but he is clearly brilliant and needs support – the lack of balance throughout United’s team isn’t conducive to creating chances nor defending well and at times Zlatan, frustrated by how little of the ball he sees, drops into the number 10 role simply to get involved.

When he does this he is far more effective than Pogba, takes charge of the play and links passes but leaves a striker sized hole up front. Rashford can’t run into that space because he’s supposed to be on the left, blocking the full-back and maybe putting a cross in if he gets the chance.

Man U was blown out by Chelsea last Saturday. Will this blow city effect the guys the rest of the season?

No.

The Daily Mail- “A downcast Jose Mourinho was spotted leaving his base at the Lowry hotel in Manchester on Monday morning as he looks to put the 4-0 hammering his side endured at Chelsea behind him.

The Manchester United boss endured a harrowing return to Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, suffering an embarrassing 4-0 defeat.

Goals from Pedro, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante saw Chelsea inflict the worst defeat of his Old Trafford reign so far, that saw United fall six points behind the top of the Premier League table.

Mourinho headed to United’s Carrington training base after leaving the hotel, where his side went through a warm-down exercise ahead of beginning preparations for their second Manchester derby of the season so far.

Mourinho’s side return to action in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night, when they host league leaders Manchester City.

The cup tie will see the Portuguese reignite his intense rivalry with Pep Guardiola, only a month after City won 2-1 at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

The 53-year-old will be looking for a big reaction from his players after they suffered their first defeat in six games at the hands of Chelsea.

Mourinho exchanged angry words with his opposite number Antonio Conte moments after the final whistle on Sunday

Italian TV reported Mourinho angrily said to his rival: ‘You don’t celebrate like that at 4-0, you can do it at 1-0, otherwise it’s humiliating for us.’

Mourinho accused Conte of disrespect in a heated touchline rant. And the bad blood from Manchester United’s 4-0 loss spilled over into the tunnel after the final whistle as a member of Mourinho’s staff snubbed a handshake from Conte.

On his first return to Stamford Bridge since being sacked last December, the Old Trafford boss watched his side slump to a heavy defeat in front of the fans who used to adore him.

It is understood Mourinho spoke to Conte in Italian, accusing him of humiliating United by trying to whip up the home support moments after N’golo Kante scored Chelsea’s fourth goal. Italian TV reported that Mourinho had said: ‘You do it at 1-0, not 4-0.’

Both managers insisted they wanted to keep the details of the spat private, but refused to deny that Mourinho was angered by Conte’s touchline enthusiasm. And the Chelsea manager insisted he did not regret his antics, despite irking his predecessor.

‘I’m not unhappy with the performances, but with the mistakes,’ said Mourinho.

‘Defensive mistakes are very important. When my teams have perfection in their defensive performances, you say that is not important. But the reality is that it is important. We made an incredible defensive mistake in the first minute and then the game is different.

‘We put ourselves in a situation where we gave them the game they wanted.’